Well, good grief, long-gone are the days of Hubs making me coffee and bringing it upstairs. Besides, it’s not like I slept in that late!

Then I walked downstairs and saw Hubs was ankle-deep in water in the playroom that was flooding into the kitchen. The kitchen which is the center of my life. The kitchen where I cook all the recipes for my blog. The kitchen that was now going to need a serious remodel.

Then came the profanities.

Thankfully Hubs is a no-nonsense kind of guy. He quickly sprang into action and within 40 minutes had pumped out 40 gallons of water with that wet-vac thing that he bought at Costco. The same wet-vac I told him we didn’t need and would never use. Somehow I don’t see myself winning any more “you don’t need that tool dear” arguments after this.

Ten minutes into the chaos, Pa-in-law with his “mother of all wet-vac thingys” swoops in to help Hubs save the day. Fifteen minutes after that Ma-in-law brings us all Starbucks and breakfast. Then we all sat around, held hands and sang “Kumbaya”. Ok, maybe not the last part. But, in case you didn’t get the memo- I married into the Cleavers.

The aftermath, is a kitchen full of gigantic fans so loud I can hear them in the driveway with all the windows closed. I can’t even run the coffee maker without blowing every circuit in the house. The electric meter is spinning like Chevy Chase’s house in Christmas Vacation.

I’m likely going to need a therapist before it’s all said and done.

So, you are going to see a few months where there will be a lot of BBQ’ing, which is ironic because that’s Hubs domain. Plan on witnessing a few power struggles over the Viking. I’m also going to try to work on some recipes that don’t require the oven (currently inaccessible), and possibly the stove. Oh this is going to be quite an interesting few months. It’s possible I will need to start drinking more in lieu of the therapist, so it’s very likely you will see far more drink recipes.

But we have all been there. Whether it’s a power outage, too hot of a day to cook indoors, or a middle of the night flood, we all need a few recipes in our back pocket to get us through in a pinch.

Mixed Green Salad with Edible Flowers and Blue Cheese

6-80z of mixed lettuces

2 oz edible flowers

1 oz blue cheese

for the dressing-

olive oil

juice from 2 lemons

Dijon mustard

Edible flowers can be found at your local farmers markets and some high-end stores like whole foods. They make an average salad look beautiful! They are incredibly expensive so I just add them on top after tossing.

Wash and dry lettuces, crumble blue cheese . In a small bowl whisk equal parts lemon juice and olive oil and emulsify with a teaspoon of mustard, preferably Dijon. Salt and pepper to taste.